The current US military 40 mm M781 marker projectile is fired from the M203 grenade launcher which is attached to the M16 rifle. This projectile is comprised of a plastic windshield, which contains a florescent powder, and a zinc body that attaches to the windshield.
The basic function of the M781 is as a training round that marks the target with a fluorescent powder. If the M781 projectile hits a person or a light target, it may be lethal to the person and may severely damage the light target. The M781 fluorescent mark on the target can only be seen during the day. In addition, the M781 does not have a tracer that allows an observer to see the flight of the projectile to the target. The maximum gun launched service velocity of the M781 projectile is approximately 250 ft/sec and has a range of approximately 400 meters.
The current US military XM1062 marker munition (as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,497,181, which is herein incorporated by reference) provides a trace of the projectile travel and a mark of the target with chemiluminescent materials that glow and therefore can be seen at night and in low light settings. The XM1062 projectile is comprised of a plastic windshield and an optional rear plastic windshield. The windshields are attached to a zinc body. In practice, one or more glass or plastic vials, some containing a liquid peroxide and some containing a oxalate liquid, is disposed in the plastic windshield(s). An oxalate powder is then placed between the vials and fills the balance of the space in plastic windshield(s). The windshield employed may either be opaque, transparent or translucent dependent upon the desired use. Thus, one requiring a tracer will employ a transparent or translucent windshield whereas one requiring only a site identification of the target area will employ an opaque windshield. It will be noted that the use of a rear windshield which may be threaded to fit body is an optional feature, which feature is typically used in conjunction with an optional aperture which allows chemlucent or chemiluminescent chemicals (or chemiluminescents) to flow into the rear windshield during activation of the projectile. It will be noted that vials break only on setback impact at which time the peroxide mixes with the oxalate ester to form a slurry which serves to mark the target area. The chemiluminescent materials produce light in all the visible spectrum and some of the IR spectrum. The XM1062 marker munition zinc body can be lethal to people and can do severe damage to light vehicles. Therefore, it is not applicable to marking people or light vehicles or targets. The velocity and range of the XM1062 projectile is the same as that of the M781.
Thus, it has been found that there exists a need for a long-range (greater than 70 meters) 40 mm non-lethal marking round with both visible and IR marking capabilities that can be fired from the M203 grenade launcher attached to the M16 rifle. The need is to mark people or light vehicles, with IR and visible light chemiluminescent chemicals, for several minutes to an hour without killing or seriously injuring the person or damaging the vehicle. This is needed by the military, homeland defense and police departments.